Homeless man due in court in decade-old Santa Monica strangling cases
A homeless man is due in court Thursday in connection with a pair of stranglings in Santa Monica more than 10 years ago.
Edric Dashell Gross, 48, is scheduled to be arraigned on two counts of murder with enhancements for allegedly raping both victims and burglarizing one of their homes.
He is accused of strangling to death Jacqueline Lee Ovsak, 42, and Dana Caper, 41. Ovsak’s body was found in 2001 in an abandoned building on 7th Street. Caper’s body was found in Palisades Park in 2002.
The original cases went cold, but detectives picked them up again several years later. Gross was arrested in August 2012 at Pan Pacific Park in Fairfax.
Officials said DNA evidence was key in building the case against Gross.
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Twitter: @josephserna
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